I didn’t do a very good job of tracking the first three weeks of life in July. Between hosting the 4th out in Linden, frantically rushing through the option period to purchase a house, moving out of and selling our home in Lone Star, and leaving for New York City … I was mostly focused on keeping us fed and in clean clothes amid the chaos and neglected my notes. SO! I’ll just pick up with week one of our New York trip instead of recapping those nutty weeks. =)
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Monday — Granpops took us to brunch at Torchy’s Tacos Monday morning before our flight. We flew on Southwest out of Love Field, which was wonderful since it allowed us to bring two suitcases each without paying for extra baggage. We took full advantage of that opportunity and dragged seven full, heavy suitcases with us. The flight was quick and uneventful and both kids did great. When we landed, we took an Uber XL ride to our home away from home. We had dinner at Sac’s in Astoria, just down the street.
The apartment worked out absolutely great! The rooms were really spacious and clean and the location could not be beat. We were 4 minutes from the Broadway stop on the N and Q subway lines. There was a grocery store on the corner, plus more restaurants in a 10 minute walking radius than we could possibly try over the entirety of our trip. We purchased a few essentials for the kitchen, but overall it was a great home base. Arguably our favorite feature of the apartment was the roof deck. It had an awesome view of Manhattan and really expanded some of our living space.
The view from the roof deck was awesome and such a treat!
Tuesday — We had breakfast at one of the highest rated bagel places in NYC: Brooklyn Bagels. The bagels were massive and there were a ton of cream cheese options. However, there were not really any sweet bagels to choose from, only savory. Apparently cinnamon sugar or chocolate chip bagels are a Texas thing. =)
From there we took the subway into Central Park. Our first stop was the carousel! Kamy’s number one priority for our New York trip was to ride as many carousels (ie – ALL) that she could find. Since the Central Park carousel was closed last time we were there with Kamy, this was high on the priority list for her.
Then we wandered through the park and up toward the Bethesda Fountain and Terrace.
Lunch was from Tony Dragon’s food truck — Greek food we took with us and ate on a park bench in Central Park. The rest of the day consisted of multiple grocery trips to stock the fridge and pantry. Dinner was Keller’s new favorite cheap Chinese food: Fatima Halal Chinese. I didn’t know there was such a thing has halal Chinese, but apparently in Astoria there was. Our favorite dishes were the general tso’s, beef lo mein, and combo fried rice. The food was fast, tasty, and didn’t even leave you feeling awful after … a rarity for cheap Chinese food.
Wednesday –
Wednesday we spent hitting some of the tourist-y highlights of NYC. We wandered through Times Square that Keller nicknamed “The Insanity,” the enormous ToysRUs with an indoor ferris wheel, M&M World, and Nintendo World.
Next we went to Top of the Rock for a birds-eye view of Manhattan and the outer boroughs. We had a fairly clear day, so it was neat to really get a feel for where things are in NYC and how massive it truly is.
Lunch was at Pio Pio — a trendy Peruvian restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. The food was different and tasty, especially the whole roasted chicken. The kids were pretty adventurous and tried most of the food we ordered. We finished up the day with some time at the Hell’s Kitchen playground so the kids could run out some energy and not have to hold our hands every moment of the day.
Thursday –
Next on our list was a trip further into Queens. We started at Flushing Meadows – Corona Park, the massive park facility they built for the World Fairs in 1939 and 1964. They were hosting a ceremony for the upcoming Dragon Boat festival. The ceremony itself was mostly a publicity and media opportunity, but the kids liked looking at the Dragon Boats and watching the fountains at the Unisphere. Then we wandered through the park and near the NYC Pavillion which they were in the process of repainting. Keller was very interested in the history of the park and how the different buildings were used.
For lunch we went up one stop on the subway line to Chinatown in Flushing. We went to an authentic Chinese restaurant, “Traditional Hunan Style.” It was a bit adventurous for us and we were looking forward to trying different flavors.
Last stop on Thursday was the Queens Zoo. We purchased a family premium membership to the NYC zoos. They are all managed by the WCS and gave us access and perks at the Bronx, Central Park, Queens, and Prospect Park Zoos. The Queens Zoo is definitely small, but it was a good size for Kamy and Caden and matched their attention span. Sea lions are the fixture of the various NYC zoos, as each zoo has a sea lion exhibit.
Just outside the Queens Zoo was Fantasy Forest — a little amusement park with a handful of rides. The kids rode both the carousel (of course) and a little roller coaster. It was Kamy’s second coaster and Caden’s first! They were both so proud of themselves for riding it and had a lot of fun.
Friday –
As the last weekday Keller had off from work, we headed up to the Bronx to see the famous Bronx Zoo. The Bronx Zoo is the East Coast’s answer to the San Diego Zoo and is massive. The Zoo membership kicked in immediately and was a great option for us because it covered all the “extras” at the Bronx zoo. We saw only a fraction of the zoo on this day, despite spending nearly four hours there. We started in the Asia section and saw Jungle World and the Wild Asia Monorail before heading to the main entrance to the park.
We took a break for lunch at a restaurant in the Bronx’ Little Italy called Zero Otto Nove Trattoria. Keller really loved one of the pasta dishes there — it set the bar pretty high for Italian food on the rest of our trip.
After lunch we went back to the zoo to ride … the Bug Carousel! Instead of horses, all the critters you ride are bugs and caterpillars and other insects. I lost count of how many times we rode the carousel over the length of our trip.
We also explored the Butterfly Garden and the Reptile House before heading back to Astoria. That night Keller went out to a local board game meet up near NYU to play some games and get to know people. He was introduced to one of his new favorite card games – Sushi Go.
Saturday –
Saturday morning we headed to Brooklyn. Our first stop was the TKTS booth so Keller could get tickets to see Penn and Teller on Broadway that evening. From there we went to the NYC Transit Museum. It was a really neat museum — they had a bunch of the different generations of subway cars, all with period advertisements inside. They also had a kids section where you could drive and fuel a bus, run a subway, and even take tickets. This was a favorite of Caden’s, who kept asking if we could go back to the “place where you put gas in the bus!”
We had lunch nearby at Golden Fried Dumplings — which were fast, cheap, and delicious. Then we headed back to Astoria for some laundry and down time before Keller went to his show that evening.
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Week 1 was a lot of fun. We definitely had to make some adjustments, remind the kids to hold hands and look before crossing the streets, and subway etiquette. Since Keller took the entire week off from work, it was our opportunity to explore the city all day without needing to rush back by 2pm for work. We hit four different boroughs this week — Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. We also got a lot of practice navigating the subway and finding our bearings. It was a great start to our trip!
